The Art Scene - 05.05.11

Barbara Bilotta’s abstract impressionist work will be on view at the Crazy Monkey Gallery in Amagansett through the end of the month.

Then and Now at Peters
“Hamptons Artists: Then and Now,” curated by Peter J. Marcelle and Gwynne Rivers, will open today at the Gerald Peters Gallery in New York City.
The show starts with work as as early as that of Max Ernst and includes pieces by his son, Jimmy, and grandson, Eric Ernst, as well as Jackson Pollock, Larry Rivers, Willem de Kooning, John Chamberlain, and Robert Gwathmey. Later artists include Karyn Mannix, Dan Rizzie, Nan Goldin, Donald Sultan, David Gamble, and Dan Flavin. In all, the exhibit covers about 60 years of modern art making and addresses how the South Fork became one of the most influential communities in American art.
The exhibit will open with a reception tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. and will be on view through June 3.

Members Show at Guild Hall
Guild Hall’s annual members show will open on Saturday with a members preview from 4 to 5 p.m. and a free public opening at 5.
Now in its 73rd year, the show allows all members to share their work with the community and have it be considered by a leading curator, historian, or critic. Michelle Klein is the organizer and this year’s awards juror is Deborah Cullen, the director of curatorial programs at El Museo del Barrio in New York City.
The artist whose work wins best in show is also awarded a solo exhibit at the museum. There are also awards for best representational painting, best abstract painting, best sculpture, best work on paper, best mixed media, and best photograph, a $250 Catherine and Theo Hios Landscape Award and the best new member artist award, presented to one artist who is new to the members exhibition or who has not entered in the past five years. The show will be on view through June 11.

BROKE*N Home at Ashawagh
This weekend, Ashawagh Hall in Springs will be the home of BROKE*N, a group show of contemporary work by more than two dozen artists, including Laura Benjamin, Ellen Dooley, Pat Field, Jonathan Morse, Frank Sofo, Tom Steele, Walter Us, Vito DeVito, and Lewis Zacks, to name only a few.
The exhibit explores the concept of things that are broken or at their breaking point across all mediums and styles. Ms. Dooley, the curator, has structured other shows under similar concepts, such as fear and purgatory.
The show will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday with a reception Saturday night from 5 to 8 p.m.

Magical Landscapes
The Crazy Monkey Gallery in Amagansett will show work by Beth Barry, Barbara Bilotta, and Joyce Silver, all members of the gallery’s cooperative, under the banner “Magical Landscapes.”
Ms. Barry, who paints abstract landscapies in vivid colors, is psychotherapist who studied art therapy. Ms. Bilotta, whose works can be bold and colorful, understated and muted, or something in between, considers herself an “abstract impressionist.” Ms. Silver’s style also varies from realism to abstraction.
The exhibit will be open tomorrow and run through May 30. A reception will be held on Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m.

Woodworks in Bridge
The Bridgehampton Historical Society will present the wood carvings of Merrall Hildreth beginning tomorrow with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. at the society’s archives building at 2539-A Montauk Highway.
Mr. Hildreth, a Sagaponack native, was the longtime proprietor with his wife, Mary Lewis Hildreth, of the Sagg Main General Store and the Sagaponack Post Office. The exhibit will include his woodworks as well as historical memorabilia from his family. The exhibit will run through the end of June.